


Saudade

by XILVerify



Series: Things That Go Bump [3]
Category: Gugudan (Band), K-pop, Shoot Out - Monsta X (Music Video), VERIVERY (Band), VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Injury, Drug Addiction, Fae & Fairies, Families of Choice, Friendship, Gangs, Gen, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kidnapping, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology References, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Seven Deadly Sins, Unconventional Families, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-26 02:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30099102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XILVerify/pseuds/XILVerify
Summary: Saudade: (n.) a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost; “the love that remains”After six months of living among the humans and monsters of Jellyfish Cottage and being accepted as part of their household, Hoyoung is finally happy and at peace. However, when a new, supernatural menace threatens to tear his newfound family apart, Hoyoung and allies old and new must set out on a dangerous quest to put it back together, before it all is lost forever.(Or: shit gets real in the urban fantasy Jellyfish family AU. Strap yourselves in, folks, it’s gonna be a wild ride.)
Series: Things That Go Bump [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915069
Comments: 21
Kudos: 25





	1. Thantophobia

**Author's Note:**

> So, anyone remember [this little writing prompt](https://x-i-l-verify.tumblr.com/post/167953787160/morning-feathers-writing-prompt-s-a-child-is) that kickstarted this whole AU a year ago? Yeah, finally getting around to elaborating on that. Enjoy! (Also, everyone check out [this awesome pic](https://x-i-l-verify.tumblr.com/post/637273381382848512/my-finished-commission-piece-from-wily-art) I commissioned a few months ago of omen!Jaewhan, isn't it so cool??)
> 
> This and the next chapter specifically are dedicated to my dear friend and writing partner in crime, Erisette. Happy birthday again! I hope this fic turns out to be worth the wait. ♥ ♥ ♥

Hoyoung crept through the decrepit alleyway carefully, golden, slitted eyes peeled for any sign of pursuit or movement. In his mouth, the young nekomata held a small, metal pail by its rusted handle. The body of the pail was covered in chipped, faded, sky blue paint with a fluffy cloud print, and inside, he’d placed a number of leaves, nuts, and flowers.

Reaching the end of the alleyway, Hoyoung glanced to his left, then his right, and then dashed across the empty street straight to the fire escape on the opposite side. He hopped up on top of the dumpster near it, then used it as a springboard to propel him to the dangling ladder letting him quickly travel up and up and up to the roof of the small, two-story strip mall. A tall man wearing a long, black, feather-trimmed coat and an overabundance of mismatched jewelry sat propped up against a vent, arms behind his head, gazing up at the clouds, a soft smile on his lips.

As quietly as he could, Hoyoung padded toward the man, stealing from stack of crates to overturned trash can to vent, trying to make as little noise as possible. Then, when he was about twenty feet away…

“Better luck sneaking up on me next time, little thief,” the man said without taking his eyes off the clouds above.

Hoyoung hung his head in defeat, stepping out from behind the other nearby vent to reveal himself fully to his friend. Setting the pail down on the ground, he smacked his lips to get rid of the rusty taste in his mouth and said, “I seriously don’t understand how you do that.”

“It’s a talent,” Jaehwan said, finally taking his eyes off the clouds to glance at the nekomata, a good-natured, mischievous glint in their dark depths. He beckoned Hoyoung over with one hand, the rings on his fingers glinting brightly in the sunlight. “You did beat everyone else here, though, I’ll give you that. What have you got there?”

“You will have to wait and see,” Hoyoung said loftily, glaring pointedly at the omen until he obligingly turned away and covered his eyes so Hoyoung could place the pail in the small plastic bin they’d brought along, making sure to dump the contents out in the bin first so as not to give his selection away. “I found it at the daycare,” Hoyoung explained once it was safely hidden from Jaehwan’s sight. “It was in one of the trash cans near the playground, so I think they recently threw it out.”

“I can’t wait to look at it, then,” Jaehwan said while Hoyoung clambered up his coat sleeve and draped himself across the omen’s shoulders, curling his forked tail around his arm.

“So it was a good idea?” Hoyoung asked hopefully.

“It was a good idea,” Jaehwan confirmed. “We’ll have to wait and see if it’s the best, though. But now, what’s this?” He reached over to where a green and gold oak leaf had fallen out of a hole at the bottom of the pail without Hoyoung’s notice. “More paraphernalia for the rosebud?”

“Yeah, Yongseung really wanted to see more different kinds of leaves now that they’re finally starting to change color. I thought he’d want to see some different nuts, too, since all the trees around the cottage are pine trees.”

“Good thinking,” Jaehwan said approvingly, putting the leaf in the bin with its fellows. “I think I have a couple leaf prints I got from a school in one of my bins if you think they’d be of interest to him.”

“Oh, I know he’d love that!” Hoyoung said enthusiastically. “Can you show him when we get home?”

“Don’t see why not,” Jaehwan said, reaching up to stroke one of the young monster’s large, tufted ears. Hoyoung leaned happily into the caress, a light, raspy purr making his entire body vibrate slightly as he started kneading his scarred paws against the fabric of Jaehwan’s coat.

“Seriously?” came an incredulous voice from the edge of the roof. Yeonho peered at them both from where he clung to the top of the roof and effortlessly pulled himself over. “You beat us all _again_?”

“Gotta step up your game, Yeonho,” teased Jaehwan as the wolf-like dream-eater approached at an easy lope. “I hope you brought something good?”

“Oh, I did.” Yeonho deposited a small, cracked water pistol in the bin after Jaehwan had obligingly closed his eyes, beaming from ear to ear. “I have a real good feeling about this one.” 

“Hold onto that good feeling, you may be right about it.”

Yeonho shot Hoyoung a crooked, triumphant grin, to which Hoyoung’s response was to stick his long tongue out.

“Very mature, you two,” came a muffled feminine voice to their left. Nayoung padded up to them and dropped a cracked white teacup covered in an orange chrysanthemum print in the bin to join the pail and the squirt gun. “Taekwoon’s right behind me. He got distracted by a baby in a stroller on the way over.” She rolled her green eyes fondly and daintily sat down, wrapping her tail around her white-tipped paws.

“How much you want to bet he tries to get the baby to pet him?” asked Yeonho mischievously.

“Nothing, because I’d lose,” Nayoung said flatly.

“Hyung, Nayoung and Yeonho are talking about you behind your back,” Hoyoung said, projecting an air of utmost innocence as a large, pitch black nekomata slunk gracefully toward them, seeming to melt out of the shadows. 

“Tattletale!” Yeonho gasped in exaggerated outrage. “How could you sell us out like this, Hoyoung, I thought we were _friends_.”

“Kittens,” Taekwoon said mildly, dropping a single silver button in the shape of a crescent moon into the bin. When he sat down next to Nayoung, the younger nekomata leaning happily into his side, he was even taller than Jaehwan’s sitting form. “I hope you’re not egging them on. They’re already all too competitive as it is.”

“ _Moi_?” Jaehwan clapped a hand over his chest, face pulled into a cartoonishly offended expression. “I would _never_. Besides, you’re one to talk about competitiveness, mister.”

“He’s right, hyung,” Hoyoung said with a grin. “It’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. Er, so to speak.”

Taekwoon flicked his forked tail in annoyance as Nayoung and Yeonho didn’t even bother to hide their giggles.

“You guys have way too much fun without me,” Soyee said, unhurriedly clambering over the side of the roof as easily as if she were walking down the street. “What’s the joke?”

“Your face!” Yeonho said brightly before anyone else could say a word, devolving into childish cackles. Soyee simply rolled her eyes and cuffed the younger baku on the back of the head head with a gigantic paw as she lumbered by, sending him sprawling to the floor where he continued to cackle. Soyee deposited a purple crayon stub the bin and then sat down heavily on Yeonho, causing him to wheeze and flail wildly. “I give, I give! Your face is heavenly, noona, please get off, my ribs can’t take much more!”

“Did anyone hear anything?” she asked mildly.

“Not a thing,” Jaewhan said, grinning like a fox as he pulled the bin toward him. His eyes flashed a silvery blue as he finally got a good look at the eclectic objects within. With great care, he laid out the five eclectic objects on the concrete in front of him in a neat little row and shifted to sit on his knees to examine them more closely. Hoyoung easily kept his balance and continued to perch on his shoulders, content to feel the sun and early autumn breeze in his tri-colored fur while the omen made his selection.

Finally having grown tired of Yeonho’s thrashing, Soyee shifted her weight and allowed him to crawl out from under her. Before he could make good his escape, however, she pulled him into her lap and wrapped him up in her long arms, where he struggled futilely for a few seconds before accepting defeat and allowing himself to be cuddled like a teddy bear.

“This one,” Jaehwan said abruptly, pointing decisively to the purple crayon stub. “This one is the best shiny.”

“Yes!” Soyee threw her arms up in triumph, freeing Yeonho, who simply slumped against her chest and pouted instead of trying to scramble away. “I win!”

“Aww, I thought for sure I would win this time!” Nayoung said sadly as Jaehwan gathered up the items and placed them carefully back in the bin.

“Better luck next time, fledgling,” Jaehwan said, patting her on the head comfortingly. “Let me guess, your shiny was… the teacup, right? That was my second favorite.”

“Really?” Nayoung brightened up considerably.

“Really. But they all were really good,” Jaehwan added, addressing the rest of the monsters. “There wasn’t one I didn’t like this time.”

“Can I see now?” Soyee asked, clearly trying to not come off as too impatient, but even the normally calm, easygoing baku was hard-pressed to hide her excitement. “Please?”

“Sure thing.” Jaehwan gently lifted Hoyoung off his shoulders and set him near the other nekomata. Soyee bodily lifted Yeonho off her lap, hurried to Jaehwan’s side, and placed a large paw on his shoulder as he lifted the purple crayon out of the bin. His eyes flashed vivid silvery blue again for a couple seconds, and Soyee’s also took on a pale silvery tinge as he shared the object’s timeline with her, likely focusing on the best memory it contained.

Hoyoung was more than slightly envious; the few times he’d won this game and gotten to see the memories related to the object he’d picked, the experience was always exhilarating. He could totally understand now why Jaehwan spent so much of his time looking for new shinies and why he hoarded them so jealously. Still, he was happy for his friend; Soyee had only won this game once before, and in his opinion, she deserved the win.

The glow from the two monsters’ eyes faded almost as soon as it had come, and Soyee blinked, then smiled widely. “That was amazing.”

“Wasn’t it?” Jaehwan agreed, before he turned pale and wavered slightly on his feet, nearly dropping the crayon stub. Soyee had been ready for this, and let him lean on her broad, furred shoulder while he caught his balance.

“You alright?”

“Perfectly fine,” Jaewhan said breathlessly, bending over and placing his hands on his knees as he panted. “Whew. It always takes me off guard just how tired projecting makes me. Just give me a minute...”

Yeonho delicately plucked the crayon stub out of Jaehwan’s hand and dropped it in the box, where the nekomata helpfully put the lid on so Jaehwan could carry it back home without everything spilling.

“Wait a sec, don’t go yet!” Jaehwan called as the other monsters roused themselves to leave. “I have something for the rest of you, too.” At everyone’s curious looks, he straightened up and continued, “You all have been such a great help to me with finding new shinies every time we play this game, so I figured I’d say thanks with these.” He held out six small pieces of paper with a flourish. “Ta-da! Theater tickets! They’re showing one of my favorite plays at the community theater downtown this weekend, so I thought we could all go! Well, all of us that can, anyway.” He suddenly seemed a bit unsure of himself and ducked his head somewhat bashfully. “If you all want to, that is.”

“Can we, oppa? Pleeeease?” Nayoung asked Taekwoon, giving him her best kitten eyes. Hoyoung did his best to mirror the expression. A real play at a human theater! Excitement bubbled up inside him at the very thought, and he desperately hoped Taekwoon wouldn’t veto the idea. He needn’t have worried, though.

“I don’t see why not,” Taekwoon said, smiling. “I admit I’m curious myself.”

The roof burst into a flurry of animated chatter. “What are we going to see?” Nayoung asked, bouncing on her toes in exhilaration.

“Will we be in our human forms?” Soyee added, deeply intrigued.

“Will they have popcorn and everything, like in the movies?” Yeonho asked at the same time, already starting to salivate at the thought.

“Where did you even _get_ those?” Hoyoung said incredulously.

“Little number called _Cyrano de Bergerac_ ; yes, that’s why I got us tickets, you can’t get the full experience if you just sneak in; they do, we can get some if you like; and insider secrets,” Jaehwan answered them all one after another with a wink, transforming into a large crow and hopping over to grab the small bin’s handle with his talons. Taking flight and hovering in place above the small congregation of monsters, he said, “Now, last one home is a rotten cockatrice egg!”

“Hey, no fair, not all of us can fly!” Yeonho called, running right off the edge of the roof and down the side of the building without care or regard for gravity. Soyee followed much more leisurely, her large, lumbering, bearlike form not built for agility or speed. Nayoung dashed for the fire escape, Hoyoung hot on her heels and Taekwoon bringing up the rear to keep an eye on the younger two monsters.

Hoyoung couldn’t contain a giggle of pure elation as the three nekomata raced down the fire escape at blinding speed. To think, in just six short months, he’d gone from being starving and homeless on the streets to _this_. A new family and home to call his own, friends to spend time with every day, hardly a day going by where he went to bed hungry, _and_ they were going to see a real human _play_ at the end of the week.

Life, in short, was _good_.

* * *

They reached Jellyfish Cottage in record time, and Hoyoung ran straight to the climbing white rosebush covering almost one whole side of the front of the tiny house, making sure not to disturb any of the lush garden taking up on that side of the little fenced-in yard. “Yongseung? Yongseungie, are you awake? Oh, hi, Dongheon,” he said to the small, tiger-striped bee lounging on one large, white rose.

“’Sup, bedbug?” Dongheon replied, giving a leisurely wave. 

“Hoyoung!” A sudden shower of leaves and petals coalesced into the Yongseung’s corporeal form, and the young drus bent down to gather Hoyoung into his arms for a brief hug. “You’re back! Did you have a fun time?”

“I did, and I brought something back for you. Jaehwan!”

Jaehwan obligingly landed so Hoyoung could pry the lid off the bin to get at the greenery he’d stashed inside. Deciding that he needed opposable thumbs for this, Hoyoung shifted to his human form and grabbed the handfuls of leaves, flowers, and nuts to bring them over for Yongseung to look at. Meanwhile, Yeonho rushed by and caught Yongseung up in a big hug, spinning him around once and gnawing playfully at his wooden shoulder before setting him gently back on the ground.

“Did you miss us?” the baku demanded, smiling his jumbled, wolfish smile.

“Of course, silly,” Yongseung giggled, reaching up to pat Yeonho on the head. “I always miss you when you’re…” The little drus trailed off as Hoyoung approached with the plants, spreading them out on the ground, and his face lit up in delight.

“Oh, _Hoyoung_ ,” he breathed, dropping to his knees to examine the leaves, some of which had started to change color due to the sudden (and very welcome) drop in temperature over the past couple of weeks. “They’re so _pretty_.” He ran his fingers relevantly over the assorted foliage, and then stilled over a beech leaf in a pretty gradient of green, yellow, and a little orange. “The tree this came from… it’s awake,” he said, reverently picking it up and holding in the palm of his woody hands. “Whoever they are, they’re _awake_.”

Hoyoung and Yeonho exchanged intrigued looks as Dongheon asked, “How can you tell, sprout?”

“I don’t know.” Yongseung shook his head, not taking his eyes off the leaf. “I just _do_.” He turned large, heartbreakingly hopeful eyes on Hoyoung. “Do you remember where you found this? Maybe… maybe I can meet them someday. When I get old enough to go farther from my bush.”

Hoyoung wracked his brain to remember. “There was… a little daycare center that was also a kindergarten. The tree was growing near there, I think. I could try to find it again, if you want.”

“Oh, would you?” Yongseung went absolutely starry-eyed and clasped his hands in front of him, being careful not to crush the leaf he held.

Jaewhan suddenly gave a loud, harsh caw from somewhere above them, drawing the immediate attention of everyone still outside. “Guys! Hana’s coming home! Take cover!”

“Already?” said Yeonho incredulously, though he and everyone else were already scrambling to hide themselves. “It’s barely noon!”

“Maybe it was an emergency,” Hoyoung suggested, shifting back to his monster form and leaping inside the open window so Yongseung could close it after him. Yeonho phased through the wall next to him and into the closet where he usually spent most of the day sleeping.

“Ah, I suppose you’ll let me know later. I’m pretty tired. G’night.”

“Sleep tight, Yeonho,” Hoyoung smiled, before activating his camouflage and creeping through Kangmin and Minchan’s bedroom out into the living room and under the couch. It seemed like Taekwoon and Nayoung had had the same idea, because they were already there.

“What do you think happened?” Nayoung whispered as he settled himself next to her. “She never comes home this early.”

“Perhaps she’s sick?” Hoyoung suggested, before Taekwoon was shushing them both as a key scraped in the lock.

Hana walked in the door, kicked off her shoes, tossed her large purse on the table, and went straight to the freezer. She pulled out a bag of frozen dumplings and immediately placed it on her left wrist, which was red and swollen, a look of sheer relief crossing her face. She closed the freezer and briefly leaned up against it, closing her eyes for a few moments before she sat down heavily at the table with a groan. She stayed that way for about a minute until her purse suddenly started to ring. She scrambled to fish her ancient, pink flip phone out of it with one hand. A quick glance at the caller ID made her give a fond roll of her eyes as she flipped the phone open and held it to her ear.

“Right on time, oppa. And before you ask, I’m _fine_. It’s just a light sprain; Dongwoo said I shouldn’t even have to go to the doctor if it feels better in a few days. He even gave me the rest of the day off from the flower shop, can you believe it? Best boss _ever_.” She paused as the person on the other end of the line spoke.

“One of the customers spilled some water on the floor, and I slipped in it before Hyunsik could mop it up. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, it was just an accident… Oppa, I’ll be _fine_ , goodness, you fret more than Mom ever did.” She paused again and huffed a laugh. “Yes, well, just be glad I moved out of the awkward teenager phase when I did, though Sanghyuk and Minchan are certainly giving me a run for my money. Speaking of which, where’d you stash your candle stuff this time? I might as well make myself useful, since I have the rest of the day off.

“I promise I’ll be careful, oppa, but I can’t just sit and do _nothing_ all afternoon. Besides, this way you can play a video game or two with the kids tonight after they finish their homework, you know how much they love it when you spend time with them.” She grinned in triumph and finally got up from the table.

“I’m _very_ practical, thank you. Now, as for the original reason I texted you…” She trailed off and let Hakyeon speak for a few moments. “Bottom drawer, behind the ice skating stuff, got it.” She opened the door to Sanghyuk and Hakyeon’s bedroom, and the nekomata could hear the sounds of her rummaging around in a drawer. “Aha! Found it. Sorry for bothering you, oppa, but I know how you get about people snooping in your stuff, so… Yeah, no worries, I’m sure I can figure it out. Thanks.” She emerged from the room holding an ace bandage under her arm. “See you tonight, oppa. Love you.”

After doing her best to wrap her injured wrist one-handed and taking some aspirin, Hana put some tea on for herself and rummaged around in the kitchen cabinets as well as Sanghyuk and Hakyeon’s bedroom again until she found everything she needed to make the candles Hakyeon spent most evenings assembling. The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully, and the nekomata retreated to their respective rooms after about an hour to get some sleep before the rest of the humans were scheduled to come home. 

* * *

Hoyoung was eventually awoken by his grumbling stomach. Seeing the lengthening shadows outside, he determined it was about time for everyone to start getting home and stole back out to the living room couch. Nayoung was already there, and while Hana put the finishing touches on all the candles she’d just made, the two amused themselves with a rousing game of Mouse Tail while they waited for Taekwoon to join them and the other humans to get home. Not five minutes after the oldest nekomata finally did, the door opened.

“Hi, Mina- oh, Gyehyeon!” Hana said, sounding surprised but pleased as she rose from her seat at the table. “We weren’t expecting you today, but you’re certainly welco-”

“Unnie!” Mina choked out, throwing herself at Hana and wrapping her arms tightly around the older girl’s waist.

“Why, Mina, what’s wrong?” Hana asked in concern, smoothing Mina’s hair back and looking to Gyehyeon for an explanation. “What happened?”

It took Gyehyeon a moment to answer. The boy was white-faced and his hands trembled slightly where they gripped the straps of his backpack. He had to swallow before he could manage to say, “I think… I think someone just tried to kidnap Mina, noona.”

“ _What_?” Hana’s arms reflexively tightened around her half-sister, the color draining from her face.

“It was so _scary_ , unnie!” Mina choked out, finally lifting her face out of Hana’s shirt, her cheeks streaked with tears. “These three men, they tried to grab me and drag me off while we were walking home. If Gyehyeon hadn’t been with me, I don’t think I could have fought all of them off.”

“Fought- are you hurt?” Hana asked frantically, looking over Mina for injuries and then moving over to inspect Gyehyeon, Mina still attached firmly to her waist. “Are you both okay?” She suddenly pulled Gyehyeon into her arms and led both kids away from the door. “Did anyone follow you here?”

It was a testament to how far Gyehyeon had come in the last few months that he allowed himself to be folded into the embrace without even a peep of protest. “No, noona, not that we could tell.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Hana slumped slightly in relief, fluffy violet clouds of gratitude appearing around her. As the nekomata started to feed off them, she sat the kids down at the table, bustling to get them cups of tea. When she forgot herself and tried to pull a mug out of the cabinet with her bad hand, she flinched and nearly dropped it.

“Unnie, your wrist!” Mina said in dismay, having finally seen the bandage wrapped around it.

“It’s nothing, honey, I’ll be fine,” Hana replied, forcing a smile as she poured the tea. “I’m just glad you both are alright. Did you stop somewhere to call the police?”

“No, unnie, we came straight home. We were afraid that…” Mina trailed off, biting her lip and glancing over at Gyehyeon uncertainly.

“Afraid what?” Hana said, not missing the significant look that passed between the two kids. “Did something else happen?”

Mina and Gyehyeon looked at each other again before Gyehyeon took a deep breath and spoke. “Two of the men that attacked us… didn’t have faces.”

Hana blinked in bemusement. “By ‘they didn’t have faces,’ you mean they were wearing masks, or…?”

“I mean just what I said,” Gyehyeon said firmly. “They didn’t have any facial features at all. Not like the third man, who looked pretty normal.”

“It was like they were dolls,” Mina added. “Or… or those things that wear the clothes in the mall… mannequins! And they moved… _wrong_. Like puppets. Like the third man was… controlling them or something. Gyehyeon flipped one over – it was _super_ cool, by the way – and when he hit the street it sounded like the plate that Minchan broke last month.”

Hana looked more and more worried as they spoke. “Well, that’s… certainly something. I’ll be sure to mention that when I call the police.”

Mina almost choked on her tea. “You’re calling the police?”

“Of course,” Hana said, whipping out her phone. “Someone tried to _kidnap you_ , Mina. What if they try again?”

“Oh…” she said in a tiny voice, slumping in her chair. “I didn’t even think of that…”

“Come on,” Gyehyeon told her, patting her shoulder with surprising gentleness. “Let’s go in the other room and you can show me that new game you said Minchan rented last week.”

“Yeah… yeah, okay,” Mina said, meekly following Gyehyeon into the living room as Hana dialed the police.

* * *

Gyehyeon and Mina played a few rounds of the fighting game before Hana, who had finished her phone call, made them shut it off and start their homework. As it got later and later, Hana began making dinner, periodically darting worried glances at the front door. Finally, it opened, showing Sanghyuk’s tall, broad-shouldered form. Lingering near the front gate were three teens wearing the same school uniform as him: a boy nearly as tall as him, a significantly smaller boy, and an even shorter girl. He waved goodbye to them as they called out their own farewells, and shut the door behind him.

“Sanghyuk!” Hana said in surprise. “You’re home…” She glanced at the clock, “early. Were those your friends?” She looked out the window at their retreating forms. “You should have invited them into stay awhile.”

Sanghyuk shook his head, taking his shoes off. “They have their own homes to get back to. Besides, we don’t have time to hang out, there’s a test on Friday we all have to study for and they wasted enough just walking me home.” He furrowed his brow and muttered, “Even though I _told_ them I didn’t need them to, I’m _fine_ , honestly they’re such worrywarts.” He paused to find the entire room staring at him. “What?”

“…Why would they think you’re not fine?” Hana asked, a faint worried crease between her eyebrows. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen you ever bring your friends to the house before.”

“Uh…” Sanghyuk was suddenly looking anywhere but at his siblings and Gyehyeon. Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, he mumbled, “I think someone… might have tried to mug me when we were going to a private study session at the park?” Either ignoring or not noticing the way all the air seemed to leave the room at those words, he continued, “I was going to get drinks for everyone, and this really buff guy bumped into me on the way to the vending machine. It gets… kinda blurry after that; I got really woozy all of a sudden, and the buff guy was pulling me down a side street, when Seunghee caught up with us. She wanted to change her drink order, and I guess she figured out what was going on faster than I did, because she put up so much of a fuss that Jimin and Sungjae came running and everyone else nearby at the park started to stare. Guy gave up pretty quick after that. The guys got me a drink and sat with me until the wooziness went away, and then they insisted on walking me home to make sure the guy didn’t come back. We didn’t even get to the study session.”

Hana had gone paler and paler as Sanghyuk spoke, and she was already pulling out her phone again as he finished. While she punched in a random number, Sanghyuk seemed to notice he had an audience. “Oh, hey, Gyehyeonie. Didn’t expect to see you here today.”

“Hi, hyung,” Gyehyeon replied shakily as Mina sprang to her feet and flew across the room to hug Sanghyuk.

“Oof! Hey, what gives, Mina? Like I already said, I’m fine,” he said, his large hands patting her back awkwardly.

“You almost got taken away, too!” she wailed, pressing her face harder into his stomach.

“Wait… ‘too’?”

“Yes, this is Shin Bora, Yoo Kangmin’s noona,” Hana was saying into her phone. “I was just calling to ask if he still had soccer practice this afternoon. His hyung was supposed to come pick him up when it was over. Did it go late, or…?” Her expression got more and more distraught as the person on the other line answered her. Finally, in a faint voice, she said, “Okay… okay. Alright, thank you.” She ended the call and slumped into a kitchen chair, briefly hiding her expression with one hand.

“Noona?” Gyehyeon said, also getting to his feet and crossing the room to the kitchen. “What happened?”

“Minchan picked Kangmin up from soccer practice over an hour ago,” Hana said, lowering her hand to reveal unshed tears in her eyes. She took a deep, shaky breath, the sound deafening in the sudden silence of the room. Let it out. “I think… it’s time to call the police again.”

* * *

The next hour passed by in a blur. Hana talked with the police for at least thirty minutes, during which time they promised her they’d send some people out to search for Kangmin and Minchan, but instructed her to wait about twenty-four hours to officially file a missing persons report if they didn’t show up. Desperate to make themselves of use, Mina and Gyehyeon took over making dinner, while Sanghyuk holed himself up in his room, presumably to study.

Meanwhile, the nekomata hadn’t budged from their places under the couch. With each minute that went by without the two boys walking through the door, Hoyoung’s stomach tied itself into tighter and tighter knots, and worry the likes of which he hadn’t experienced in a long while consumed his thoughts. He’d never officially met the two humans, but living in their room for the last six months had made him grow deeply fond of them all the same, and the thought of anything bad happening to them… He whimpered and hid his face under his paws, turning to bury his nose in Taekwoon’s dark fur when the older nekomata nuzzled him comfortingly.

The front door opening drew everyone’s immediate attention, and little green cubes of hope filled the air… and then Hakyeon stepped into the small foyer.

“Oppa!” Hana leapt from her seat at the kitchen table and ran to meet her older brother. “Why didn’t you answer my calls? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you… for…” She trailed off as she got a good look at his appearance.

The man’s normally out of current fashion but otherwise immaculate clothes were rumpled and splattered with mud, as if he’d fallen in several mud puddles in rapid succession. With one hand, he pressed a bloodstained handkerchief to a gash on his scalp, and streaks of drying crimson covered nearly the entire left side of his face and neck, staining his coat and shirt. A large bruise on his left cheek swelled his eye partially shut, and small burns and scrapes covered the front and backs of his tanned, calloused hands.

Seeing the horrified looks he was getting from the entire room (and Sanghyuk, who had heard the commotion and poked his head out of his room to see what was going on), Hakyeon gave a weak, sheepish chuckle. “It… looks worse than it is?”

“Then it’s still pretty damn bad!” Mina said, grabbing the wet dishcloth Gyehyeon held out to her and running over to where her eldest siblings stood.

“Language,” he murmured, though he accepted the rag with a grateful smile, dabbing at the crusted blood on his skin.

“Oppa, what _happened_?” demanded Hana, helping Hakyeon over to sit at the table, Sanghyuk running over to help him the last few feet as well.

“Got jumped on the way home,” he groaned as he settled in the chair, completely missing the terrified looks that passed between everyone else at his words. “By this really tall, muscular guy. Didn’t get the drop on me entirely, though.” He smiled at everyone and gently patted Mina’s hand where she held onto his sleeve tightly. “Oppa fought back and left him with a few things to think about. Even nabbed this from him.” He reached in his pocket with a wince and pulled out a small, square box with a flame pictured on one side. A matchbox. From this distance, Hoyoung could just barely make out the word “WRATH” printed in blocky white letters on the bottom of the box.

“Unfortunately, I think my phone was damaged in the scuffle,” Hakyeon continued mournfully, pulling out an old flip phone similar to Hana’s out of his jacket pocket, which was soaked with mud and water. “I’m sorry I didn’t get your messages. You’re okay, right?” He gently took her injured hand and studied it before looking up at her in concern, then at everyone else gathered around. Then, something seemed to click in his mind. His eyes darted over everyone in quick succession as he did a mental headcount, and a deep, nameless dread filled his eyes.

“Where are Minchan and Kangmin?”

* * *

The telltale click of the front door clued Hoyoung in to the fact that Hakyeon had finally gotten back from the police station. The little nekomata was curled up in a miserable ball in his nest under Kangmin’s bed, unable to sleep a wink the entire night due to worry. Taekwoon had sent the younger nekomata to bed a few hours ago when Mina and Sanghyuk had finally nodded off, too tired to stay up any longer, Gyehyeon leaving for the children’s home a few hours before that. The only human still awake in the house was Hana, who’d refused to go to bed until Hakyeon returned.

“Anything?” she said, her exhausted voice filtering through the walls to Hoyoung’s sensitive ears. 

“Nothing,” Hakyeon said, his normally light, mellow voice heavy. “It’s like they just vanished off the face of the earth. None of the CCTVs they’ve checked are showing anything out of the ordinary yet, but the police promised me that they’ll keep looking.”

Hana let out a soft, choked sob.

“Hey, hey, shh.” There was a soft rustling sound from the other room as Hakyeon presumably gathered his younger sister into his arms. “We can’t give up on them, okay? We’ll find them, Hana, we _will_.”

“I keep… I keep wondering,” Hana said shakily once she’d calmed down a little. “If Dongwoo hadn’t insisted I go home early today… if they would have tried to take me, too, and I just-”

“There’s no use tearing yourself apart over what-ifs,” Hakyeon told her firmly. “I’m just glad you, Sanghyuk, and Mina are alright. Because you were home, the police were notified faster, and there’s more of a chance we’ll get our boys back.” Silence fell for a minute before Hakyeon spoke again. “Get some rest, okay? You need to focus on getting better, too.”

Hana made a small sound of acknowledgement, and there was a shuffle of footsteps outside the bedroom door as she went to the room she shared with Mina. Silence fell again. And then the door opened with a soft creak, a large pair of slippered feet walking soundlessly inside. Hakyeon circled the room slowly, straightening the rumpled sheets on Minchan’s bed, picking up a shirt lying in a careless heap over by the closet, lingering over the well-loved action figures decorating the study desk. Finally, he sat down heavily on Kangmin’s bed, the bedframe creaking under his unfamiliar weight. He sat there silently for one minute. Two. Then he lay down on the bed, his feet disappearing from Hoyoung’s view, and the soft, muffled sob that carried clearly to the little monster’s ears nearly broke his heart completely in half.

Hoyoung had spent less time around Hakyeon than he had with the younger humans, on account of the young man spending the majority of his time away from the house, but it had become abundantly apparent in the last six months that the only reason their human family functioned as well as it did was because of him. He mediated disputes, soothed ruffled feathers, bandaged up injuries, helped with homework, worked himself to the bone to provide for everyone under his care and make sure they were clothed, fed, educated, _loved_. He’d always seemed so resilient and self-assured to Hoyoung, a rock, an anchor, a safe haven where the rest of his siblings could always find love and acceptance.

But now, hearing the strong, confident, beloved pillar of the family sob as though his heart was being slowly torn asunder, Hoyoung was painfully reminded that even the hardest, toughest diamonds could shatter if enough pressure was applied to their weak points. Pity and sorrow welled up in his heart, and he _ached_ with the desire to do something, _anything_ to fix this entire, awful situation. But all he could do was sit crouched under the bed until Hakyeon cried himself to sleep.

Finally, once the crying stopped and Hakyeon’s breaths became slow and even, Hoyoung plucked up his courage and crept out from under the bed, lightly jumping up to check on the man the same way he sometimes did with Kangmin (who had a bad habit of kicking his covers off). Hakyeon had curled up on the bed holding Kangmin’s favorite stuffed animal close to his chest, a soft, squishy teddy bear with fur in a black and white soccer ball pattern and a blue silk bow tied around its neck. His dark hair fanned out against the pillow, contrasting against the white bandage encircling his head to cover the gash on his scalp. The nasty bruise on his cheek stood out starkly against his tanned skin, and the dark circles under his eyes made him look even younger than his twenty-four years would suggest.

As Hoyoung looked, those tired, red-rimmed eyes suddenly opened. They roved sluggishly around the room until they fixed squarely on Hoyoung, and the nekomata suddenly realized that _he’d forgotten to camouflage himself_.

“You must be the little monster that lives under Kangminnie’s bed,” Hakyeon said as Hoyoung frantically, internally cursed himself for a reckless idiot, words slurring together negligently as his eyes lazily roamed over Hoyoung’s form, taking in the diamond mark on his cheek, his large, tufted ears, his long, forked tail. He was clearly completely out of it with exhaustion and grief, and his eyes welled up again as he mumbled, “I wish I was a monster right now. Maybe then… maybe then I’d have been strong enough to keep my boys from being taken away from me.”

A tear trickled down his cheek. Then another. Then another, and Hoyoung couldn’t stand it anymore. Throwing caution to the wind, he stepped closer and nuzzled his head against Hakyeon’s chin with a sad meow, purring low in his throat. A hand softly stroked his head, his shoulders, his back, and Hoyoung’s purrs grew louder as he hunkered down and pressed his face against Hakyeon’s throat, allowing the man to pull him close and bury his face in his fur. They stayed like that until the human eventually fell back asleep.

After carefully licking Hakyeon’s face clean of salty tears, Hoyoung wriggled out of his tight grip as delicately as he could and jumped back to the floor. Shifting to his humanoid form, he grabbed the teddy bear up from where Hakyeon had let it fall to the floor and placed it back in his arms. Hopefully when he woke up, he’d just assume he’d been cuddling the bear the whole time. He then took the folded quilt at the foot of the bed and pulled it up to tuck it securely around the young man’s shoulders. Turning, he saw Taekwoon sitting in the open doorway, his forked tail flicking back and forth absently, and a zing of panic shot up Hoyoung’s spine.

“Ah… how much of that did you see, hyung?” Hoyoung whispered, shifting back into his normal form. “Nothing happened, he was completely out of it, thought he was dreaming-”

“I’m sure it’s fine, Hoyoung,” Taekwoon said, padding over and nuzzling the much smaller monster comfortingly. “We’ll discuss it later.”

“Hyung…” Hoyoung nosed at the mud splattering the adult monster’s fur, the small cut under his eye that definitely hadn’t been there just a few hours ago, and gazed up at him in concern. “What…?”

“I had some… _individuals_ to talk to,” Taekwoon said by way of explanation. “But now, could you wake up your roommates and meet me underneath the front kitchen window in five minutes, kitten?”

“Sure,” Hoyoung said readily, pausing in confusion as Taekwoon turned to go. “But why?”

“Emergency family meeting. We have a lot to talk about.”

* * *

_Thantophobia: (n.) The fear of losing someone you love_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *barricades self in flame-proof underground bunker*


	2. Quatervois

“Is everyone present and accounted for?” Taekwoon asked the assembled monsters, most of whom were yawning and rubbing their eyes. “Are we safe from prying eyes?” This directed at a wide-awake Soyee and Yeonho.

  
“No one but us are seeing or hearing this conversation, oppa, count on it,” Soyee said in her easygoing drawl as Yeonho gave them a thumb’s up, more subdued than Hoyoung had perhaps ever seen him.

  
“And I think this is everyone,” came Hongbin’s deep voice from his perch on the windowsill sitting between Haebin and Xiening. The moon rabbit gave off a soft, silvery luminescence in the darkness of the night. “I count eleven monsters, anyway.”

“Good.” Taekwoon walked to the center of the circle of assembled monsters and sat down, his thumping tail the only outward sign of just how agitated he truly was. “I assume you all have learned of the situation by now.” Everyone nodded or made sad noises of acknowledgement. “So I come to you with a simple question: What should we do?”

A long moment of silence fell.

“Is… is there anything we _can_ do?” Haebin asked doubtfully. “Shouldn’t we be waiting for the human police to find the boys? That’s what they’re there for, right?”

“Please,” scoffed Jaehwan derisively, sitting perched on Soyee’s broad shoulder. “I know what the human police think about people who live out here in places like this.”

“You’re saying they wouldn’t help?” Nayoung asked from her seat next to Hoyoung.

“No, I’m saying that the boys wouldn’t get _priority_ ,” Jaewhan said, ruffling his feathers. “Our humans are low-class orphans in the eyes of human society, Nayoungie. They don’t have powerful parents or a lot of money to throw around. When you don’t have that, the police usually aren’t as quick to help you. At least in my experience. Hells, there are some people who might even say whoever tried to take them was doing society a favor.”

“What do you mean ‘a favor’?” Yeonho snapped, bearing his teeth. “Our humans aren’t hurting anyone! They’re just trying to live! They… they’re _good_ , they don’t…” Tears welled up in his eyes and began to soak into his fur. “They don’t deserve this.”

“Woah, hatchling, calm down,” Jaewhan said, holding his wings up in a placating manner as Soyee wrapped an arm around Yeonho and pulled him flush against her side. Hoyoung leaned into his other side, purring comfortingly. “I don’t disagree with anything you said. I’m just saying that there are people who would. That’s all.”

  
“Yeah, well, those people are stupid,” Yeonho mumbled, briefly hiding his face in Soyee’s fur and resting a paw on Hoyoung’s back.

“Indeed,” Taekwoon said. “But that still doesn’t answer the question of what we should do about the situation.”

“What do _you_ think, hyung?” Hoyoung asked pointedly. “You still haven’t said where you went all night.”

“I went to go see the Matoki,” Taekwoon said calmly.

“What, you don’t think they’re the ones behind this, do you?” Hongbin asked. Multiple monsters bristled at the thought, Hoyoung included.

Taekwoon shook his head. “No, something like this… isn’t their style. They concern themselves more with monsters than with humans, and even then, kidnapping is out of character, even for them. I was hoping they might have some information we could go off of, though.”

“Well? Did they?” Nayoung demanded as everyone else leaned forward eagerly.

Taekwoon sighed sadly. “No. Or at least, not really. As far as criminal enterprises in this and the surrounding cities, they’d be considered small fry. They survive by staying under the radar of the bigger and badder syndicates and claiming an area no one else really wants as their territory. The problem is that it doesn’t really give us any leads to go off of, because human trafficking is… well, let’s just say it’s a messy business and leave it at that.”

“Well, it was as good an idea as any,” Dongheon said glumly from where he sat as a shiny bee-shaped black speck on one of the roses growing out of Yongseung’s hair. “But now we’re back to square one again.”

“How do you know it’s human trafficking, though?” asked Haebin. “This could be any number of things. Especially when you bring the possibility of the supernatural into the equation.”

“You’re right, it could, if not for the fact that this has been happening for at least the last eight months, _probably_ more.”

“…Come again?” Hongbin said, speaking for everyone else.

“I can’t be the only one who pays attention to the humans’ conversations during mealtimes,” Taekwoon said, his soft voice taking on a slightly exasperated edge. “Low-income humans from this and the neighboring cities have been going missing, sometimes whole families at once. Obviously not often enough that it would cause a huge stir, but it _has_ been happening. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like what almost happened today? What singular supernatural entity would want that many humans over that long of a time frame? No, this has to be an organized operation of some sort. Himchan told me as much, though he couldn’t really tell me much more than that.”

“And you believe him?” Hongbin asked incredulously.

“I don’t have much of a choice right now,” Taekwoon said.

“Well, we can’t just sit here and do _nothing_!” Hoyoung said, speaking up for the first time. He’d been thinking very hard since his encounter with Hakyeon, and had finally come to a conclusion. “If we sit around and wait for the humans to act, it may be too late for Minchan and little Kangminnie.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Taekwoon nodded approvingly. “Which is why I’m going to go out and search for the boys. I expect everyone else to stay put and keep an eye on the humans.”

“Send me instead,” Hoyoung said, stepping forward boldly, much to everyone else’s visible astonishment. When Taekwoon opened his mouth to refute him, Hoyoung cut him off. “No, hyung, please listen. We need you _here_. You’re the most powerful monster in this house, and if whoever took our humans tries to take them again, they’ll need you to help protect them. That goes for everyone else here, too, actually.” He glanced briefly at the other monsters before focusing back on Taekwoon. “Dongheon, Yongseung, Haebin, and Xiening are bound to the house. They can’t go anywhere even if they wanted to, but they can certainly keep people from getting in. But our four remaining humans can’t just stay in the house until whoever did this is found. They’re going to need protection, someone to keep an eye on them while they’re at work or school.”

“I’m going with you, Hoyoung,” Yeonho said in a tone that brooked no argument. “I can help track the boys down, since I’m the most familiar with their scents out of anyone here. Besides, with two less humans in the house, Soyee can take care of nightmares on her own.”

“Be that as it may, it’s too dangerous,” said Taekwoon, shaking his head.

“ _Please_ , hyung,” Hoyoung said. “I’m small and fast and sneaky; Yeonho has the best nose out of all of us. We would make a good team, and with our boys gone…” he faltered briefly, remembering the overwhelming, oppressive sorrow and fear that had filled the house all evening, the cold, empty room that felt so dead without the two boys there to breathe life into it. He then looked Taekwoon straight in the eye, something he’d never have dreamed of doing before coming here. “I would have starved to death six months ago if it weren’t for these humans and the happiness and love that they produce. This is my chance to do something for _them_ for once, to make sure that happiness and love doesn’t go away forever. Please, just let us at least _try_.”

Having said his piece, Hoyoung held his breath, waiting for Taekwoon’s verdict. The older monster looked down at him, an inscrutable look in his piercing, emerald green eyes, but Hoyoung refused to look away, to back down. Taekwoon was the one to look away first, closing his eyes briefly before opening them and leaning down to rest his forehead against Hoyoung’s.

Sounding resigned and more than slightly fond, he said, “Ah, kitten, I don’t think I could stop you from trying even if I wanted to.”

Hope swelled in Hoyoung’s chest. “You mean…?”

“But you _are_ taking Jaehwan with you,” Taekwoon finished sternl.y “He’s the only one of us with wings, so if you find a lead, he can come back and tell us so we know who and what to look out for. An omen’s luck might help out in your search, too.”

“What luck?” Jaehwan said dejectedly, iridescent head hanging low. “If I actually had luck, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“You can’t blame yourself for this,” Haebin said. “Omens ain’t all powerful, and you don’t have control over other people’s free will, neither. None of us expect you to prevent anything bad from happening to the humans ever again.”

“Besides,” Yongseung said thoughtfully from his cross-legged position under the kitchen window, “four of our six humans are still here. Think about it; there was a concerted effort on the part of whoever took the youngest boys to take _all_ of them today. Maybe your presence here tipped the balance in their favor, even if it wasn’t enough to save all of them.”

“Hey, you’re right!” Jaehwan said, perking up. “Maybe I’m good for something after all. Alright.” He straightened up and puffed out his chest. “Count me in.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Yeonho said, springing up. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

“It _is_ probably best if you go immediately,” Taekwoon told them. “Time is of the essence.”

“I wish Dongheon and I could come with you,” Yongseung said remorsefully, standing and stepping forward to hug Yeonho and then Hoyoung. “Be safe, okay?”

“Be sure you come back, bedbug,” Dongheon said, alighting on the tip of Hoyoung’s nose while he was still in Yongseung’s arms and giving his fur a fond pat. “I’ve gotten used to having you around.”

The other monsters also said their goodbyes, Soyee hugging Yeonho so hard he squeaked and Nayoung and Taekwoon cuddling Hoyoung within an inch of his life. Meanwhile, Hongbin was telling Jaehwan what would happen to him in no uncertain terms if he didn’t look after the younger two monsters, and then surprised everyone by actually hopping down from his perch and gruffly hugging the three departing monsters goodbye, and then retreating inside so fast his glowing body left a brief afterimage trail in everyone’s eyes.

Finally, with all the goodbyes said, Yeonho, Hoyoung, and Jaewhan took off immediately.

“So, Hoyoung, where do we start?” Yeonho asked, tail swishing in excitement as the two ran through the streets.

“Um… well, Jaehwan, do you know where Kangmin’s school is? We know that Minchan and Kangmin left there safely, so if we can retrace their steps, we might find some clues.”

“I do,” Jaehwan said above them. “In fact, I know the exact route they usually take. Follow me.”

They ran, Yeonho keeping his nose close to the ground to try to find traces of the humans’ scents. Hoyoung tried his best to help, even though his nose wasn’t nearly as sensitive as a baku’s, and kept his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Finally, while passing through a section of town occupied with a number of small, quaint stores and shops, Yeonho came to an abrupt, screeching halt, nose scenting first the street, then the air.

“What is it?” Hoyoung asked breathlessly. “Did you find-?”

Yeonho dashed down a side-street without even answering. Jaewhan and Hoyoung exchanged a look, and followed Yeonho to a large dumpster where the baku was struggling mightily to get the lid open.

“I smell them!” he grunted by way of explanation as Jaehwan and Hoyoung finally caught up. “Both of them! In here!”

Sure enough, over the overwhelming stench of garbage and other human traffic, there was a faint whiff of Kangmin and Minchan’s telltale scents, and Hoyoung leapt atop the other side of the dumpster to peer inside once Yeonho got the lid open enough, dreading what he’d find but needing to know anyway. Two backpacks came into view amidst the piles of trash bags, and Hoyoung recognized them instantly.

“It’s just their backpacks,” he told the other two, slumping in relief. 

“But what would they be doing in here?” Jaehwan said, alighting on the dumpster next to Hoyoung as Yeonho also stuck his head over the side, one paw over his nose to block out the worst of the stench.

“Evidence, maybe?” Hoyoung suggested. “Whoever took them just wanted _them_ , not their stuff, so they dumped it.”

“Hey, is that…?” Yeonho reached into the dumpster and pulled out a small, blue, plastic yoyo, gagging a little from the smell. Once he was out into fresher air, he let the lid fall shut again, waved the yoyo around a bit, and then sniffed it. “It’s Kangmin’s, alright. But there’s…” He sniffed it again and made a confused face. “There’s another scent on here. It’s… really weird.”

“Weird how?” Hoyoung asked.

“I can’t…” Yeonho sniffed it again and looked even more confused. “It’s human, but… it’s _hiding_ something, somehow. I can’t describe it any other way than that. But I do know that I don’t like it.”

“Do you smell it anywhere else?” Jaehwan asked. “Maybe it leads somewhere?”

“Hmmm…” Keeping hold of the yoyo, Yeonho bent down and sniffed all around the dumpster. “Yeah, it goes… this way.” He led them down the side-street to a trash-strewn, abandoned parking garage that looked like it hadn’t seen business in a decade. Rubble and debris littered the ground from a gaping hole in the ceiling, and a large puddle of stagnant water divided the whole garage almost completely in half.

Yeonho sniffed the air in the garage, froze briefly, and then sprinted to a spot on the concrete smeared with dark, rusty colored liquid. Blood. A few paces away, there were a few more small splatters of the stuff.

“Minchan and Kangmin’s?” Hoyoung asked grimly. The way Yeonho pinned his ears back and whimpered high in his throat was answer enough. The telltale smell of gasoline stunk up the far side of the garage, and there was a motor oil stain on the concrete that was still faintly tacky. Curiously, a number of wilted red rose petals and their stems littered the ground near the back of the garage as well.

“Their scents stop at this garage,” Yeonho said after they’d done a complete investigation of the place. “Whatever happened, they didn’t leave here on foot.”

“So someone grabbed them, threw them in a car, and then drove off,” Hoyoung postulated, congregating back with the others near the entrance.

“Well, it’s good info, but it doesn’t help us much,” Yeonho said, fiddling agitatedly with the yoyo in his paws. “We can’t track one car among the thousands in this city. We don’t know the make, model, license plate, anything. We need more info.”

“You’re in luck, then,” Jaehwan said slowly, eyes fixed on a singular point on one of the walls. “I think I found a shiny.”

“Is it recent?” Hoyoung asked as he and Hoyoung swiveled their heads to try to locate what Jaehwan saw.

“Very recent. In fact, I would be willing to bet quite a bit that it was made today.” Jaehwan fluttered over to an exposed pipe in the crumbling wall, where half a set of handcuffs gleamed dully in the dim moonlight filtering in from outside. The chain had been snapped cleanly in two, and the other half of the set was nowhere to be found.

“Can you show us, too?” Hoyoung asked. “I know it takes a lot out of you, but if there’s something in there that’s important…”

“I can try,” Jaehwan said determinedly, shifting to human in a kneeling position. He placed one hand on the handcuff as Yeonho slipped his paw into his other hand and Hoyoung jumped up onto his shoulders. The omen took a deep breath, and then dove into the object’s timeline, pulling the younger two monsters along with him.

_Fearfuryhorrorterror **sorrow** , antlered skulls, white cages, **“Daddy, daddy, I want my daddy-!”,** shattered glass and metal and **pain** and the world turning upside down again and again and again- No, **no** , not helpful, hatchlings shouldn’t see, recent, more **recent** -_

The sudden onslaught of overwhelming memories grew fuzzy and distant until they were but vague impressions of _griefpanicrage_ all blurring together, as if filtering through to Hoyoung’s consciousness from behind a thick, comforting quilt draped over and around his mind, the distance shielding and protecting him from the harrowing intensity of the emotions and memories, until finally…

* * *

_Daylight filtered into the garage from the doorway and the various holes in the roof. A jeep with tinted windows, its body covered in a strange, slate-gray scale pattern, was parked near the far wall, and three men milled around it, all average height for adult human males. One had gray hair, one pink, and one orange. All of them wore boots, gloves, and identical olive green jumpsuits._

_“-left work before I got there,” the one with the pink hair was grousing, plucking the petals off a red rose. A small pile of petals and stems already lay at his feet. “Inconsiderate, that’s what it is.”_

_“Why? Don’t tell me you developed a crush, Lust,” the one with the orange hair teased, playing with the gleaming pair of silver handcuffs in his hands. “You even bought flowers from the guy and everything.”_

_“For the last time, Greed, it was just to avoid arousing suspicion,” Lust replied irately, dropping the bare rose stem on the ground to join the rest of its fellows. “I had to be absolutely certain she wasn’t there. Besides, since she wasn’t there, it left me free to come help you. You should be grateful.” His smile would have been charming if it weren’t so sickeningly sweet._

_“Oh please,” Greed rolled his eyes. “Like Envy and I couldn’t handle a couple of brats on our own. Why didn’t you just go back to headquarters and hang out with Pride or something? It’s not like Wrath isn’t going to send you back out to nab the girl again after the police drop the case, anyway.”_

_“Lay off, Greed, it’s not like he was the one who decided we needed babysitting,” said the gray-haired man. Envy, by process of elimination. “Take it up with Wrath and Sloth when we get back if you’re that annoyed.”_

_“Believe me, I will,” Greed snapped before a thoughtful look passed over his face. “Unless hyung treats us to drinks at the Crazy Guy later. Then I might be willing to drop it. What do you say, hyung?”_

_“ **Fine** ,” sighed Lust with the air of a martyr. “Drinks on me later. The things I do to keep the peace around here, honestly.” _

_“Have I ever told you you’re my favorite hyung, hyung?” Greed immediately proclaimed, throwing a companionable arm around Lust’s shoulders and giving a hard squeeze._

_Envy suddenly pushed off the wall he leaned against, not taking his eyes off the small screen he held in his hands. “Guys!” he hissed. “They’re getting close.”_

_“Let me see.” Greed yanked the screen out of Envy’s hands._

_“Hyung privileges!” Lust sang, grabbing the screen from Greed._

_“No fair-!”_

_“If you both are **quite done** ,” Envy interrupted, snatching the screen back and tossing it into the passenger side of the van. He grabbed a roll of duct tape and tossed another pair of handcuffs at Lust. “They’re almost here. We have about ten minutes before the CCTV loop runs out, so we better work fast.”_

_The three men crouched in wait by the opening of the garage. A couple minutes later, Minchan passed by. Kangmin followed a few paces behind him, absorbed in the yoyo he held and still dressed in his soccer practice uniform. The men let the boys both get in sight before making their move. Greed lunged for Minchan, wrapped an arm around his throat, and yanked him into the garage while Lust grabbed Kangmin. The second the two boys were inside the garage, Envy jumped up, grasped the door overhead, and pulled it down to cut off their escape before finally turning to help his comrades._

_And need help they did; almost as soon as they’d laid hands on both boys, Lust and Greed let out sounds of shock and pain, and almost reflexively let go of their quarries._

_“What the **hell**?” Lust gasped, nearly losing his grip on Kangmin entirely._

_“Wards,” Greed snarled, struggling to get the handcuffs on Minchan, who had nearly managed to wrest completely free of his loosened grip. “The little bastards have **wards** \- oh, no you **don’t** , brat!” _

_Minchan had finally freed himself of his assailant’s hold, dodged Greed’s second attempt to grab him, and whacked him as hard as he could across the face with his heavy backpack. It was enough to momentarily stun the man and knock him to one knee. Wasting absolutely no time, Minchan threw his backpack aside, snatched away the handcuffs hanging loosely from Greed’s hand, slapped one of the bracelets over his wrist, and bodily dragged him a few paces to attach the other end to an exposed pipe jutting out of a section of crumbling wall. He then turned right around and tackled Lust, who was still trying to subdue a squirming, terrified Kangmin and had managed to get one of the cuffs locked around one of the boy’s thin wrists._

_“Run!” Minchan yelled, as he and Lust both hit the rubble-strewn concrete. “Kangminnie, **run**! Get help!” _

_Kangmin didn’t need to be told twice. He dropped to his belly and wriggled under the half-meter space between the floor and the bottom of the garage door. His backpack gave him some trouble, but he simply shrugged it off his shoulders and kept going._

_“Envy!” Lust barked, hissing in pain as he tussled with Minchan._

_“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Envy stalked the few paces to the garage door and reached out for Kangmin’s ankle… just as the boy made it to the other side. He swore vehemently and pulled the door back up to go after him, drawing a wicked-looking knife from one of the pockets in his jumpsuit. Disappearing into the blinding sunlight outside, he said, “Get it **together** , Greed!” _

_“Oh, I got it alright,” the orange-haired man snarled, pulling himself to his feet and testing the chain holding him to the pipe before simply giving an almighty **wrench** and snapping the chain in two. He stumbled away, trying to find his footing, and touched two fingers to the bruising scrape on his cheek before leveling a dangerous, livid look at Minchan, who was still wrestling with Lust on the floor. The rocks scattered across the floor of the garage trembled, shook, and began to levitate in the air around him. Lust took one look at Greed’s expression, let go of Minchan, and scrambled away. Minchan watched him go in bewilderment before he abruptly noticed the floating rubble and the newly freed Greed. His expression turned from defiant rage to one of utter fear._

_And then, as one, the rocks flew directly at Minchan. The boy barely had time to close his eyes and bring his arms up to protect his head before he was struck with dozens of projectiles of varying sizes. He cried out in agony and crumpled to the floor, curling into a ball as rocks pelted him from every direction, cutting and bruising his exposed skin and tearing at his clothes. Once Greed ran out of rocks, he stalked over to Minchan’s hunched, trembling form and kicked him brutally in the ribs. As Minchan gave a wheezing cough and reflexively clutched at his chest, Greed reached into his pocket, pulled out a large pocketknife, and flicked the blade open. Prying one of Minchan’s arms away from his chest, grimacing in pain all the while, Greed stomped on his forearm to hold it in place and carelessly cut through the braided orange band tied around his wrist, creating a large cut in Minchan’s skin and eliciting a breathless, gasping sob._

_“There we go,” Greed said in satisfaction, visibly relaxing as the bracelet fell to the ground in pieces. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes…” Without further preamble, the man bent down, grabbed a large fistful of Minchan’s hair, and brutally slammed the side of his face into the ground twice in rapid succession, eliciting a choked scream from the poor kid. Just as he was about to do it a third time, a hand grabbed his wrist, restraining him from further violence._

_“Dammit, Greed!” Lust growled, putting himself between his colleague and the injured boy. “Would it kill you to not break the merchandise for once?!”_

_“What about when they deserve it, though?” Envy asked, dragging a crying Kangmin back in from outside and throwing him carelessly to the floor. The boy’s knees were badly scraped up, wrists cuffed behind him, blood trickling from his nose and a large bruise already forming on his cheek. A long, thin cut on his left wrist bled sluggishly where Envy had cut his blue, woven bracelet off. Said bracelet was hooked over the tip of the knife the man held gingerly in his other hand, and he carelessly flicked it to the ground as he stowed the blade back in his pocket. Meanwhile, Kangmin was trying to crawl away again, and Envy quickly put a stop to that behavior by pinning him in place with a boot applied between his shoulder blades as he pulled out the roll of duct tape._

_“P-please,” Kangmin whimpered, craning his neck around to look plaintively up at his captors. “P-please, just let us go. Let us g-go home to our hyungs and n-noonas.” A big tear rolled down his bruised cheek as his face crumpled pitifully. “Please, I just w-want to go ho-” A piece of tape slapped over his mouth cut off anything else he might have said._

_“That’s quite enough of that,” Envy muttered, moving to bind his feet._

_“Yeah, it’s nothing we haven’t heard before,” Greed said, finally caving under Lust’s relentless glare and releasing the handful of Minchan’s hair he still held. “‘Oh, please, don’t take me, I have a family, a girlfriend, a puppy, blah blah **blah**.’ You’ll have a new family soon enough, kid. You may even have a girlfriend if you’re lucky, right, Lust?”_

_“Not sure I’d call it luck,” Lust muttered, cradling Minchan’s bleeding head in one hand and lowering it almost gently to the floor as he checked him over for injuries. As his hand came in contact with Minchan’s ribs, the boy cried out and curled further in on himself, tears trickling steadily down his cheeks. “Shit, sorry, kid.” He glanced up at the other two, looking faintly worried. “I think Pride’s going to have to take a look at this one, guys.”_

_“Why am I not surprised. Think fast, hyung.” Envy tossed the roll of duct tape to Lust and motioned for him to secure Minchan as he walked over to the van and rummaged around in the glove compartment. “We’re out of handcuffs, so you’ll have to make do.”_

_“Whose fault is that, I wonder?” Lust muttered._

_“Why are you blaming **me**?” Greed asked indignantly. “The brat was the one who just couldn’t come quietly.” He aimed another kick at Minchan’s prone form, which was intercepted by Lust. _

_“Give it a **rest** , Greed,” he growled, grip tightening around Greed’s ankle momentarily before he pushed it away and went back to wrapping the duct tape around Minchan’s wrists and ankles. _

_Envy had rejoined the group by this time, carrying a small, dark glass bottle and two wrapped syringes in one hand. He measured out a large dose of a faintly yellowish, clear fluid from the bottle into one of the syringes and crouched down. Taking hold of one of Minchan’s bound arms, he twisted it to expose the crook of his elbow and plunged the needle into the boy's arm, eliciting a low, agonized moan as the liquid was forced into his bloodstream. “There we go. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He gave Minchan a mocking little pat on the head, prompting a violent flinch, and filled the second syringe with another dose of the sedative. “Now for our other little fish.”_

_Kangmin’s tears fell faster at this, and he whimpered as Envy approached him, trying to crawl toward his brother, whose eyes fluttered once, twice, and then closed, his beaten body going limp._

_“Oh, relax, kid,” Envy said, rolling his eyes at the desperation and panic in Kangmin’s. “Your brother’s fine. He’s just taking a nice, long nap. Just like you will in a couple minutes.” He grabbed Kangmin’s arm in a bruising grip. “You finished over there, Lust?”_

_“Just about,” Lust replied, wrapping the last loop of tape around Minchan’s ankles._

_“Good.” Kangmin gave a muffled whine as the needle pierced his skin and the serum entered his own bloodstream. He moaned softly as Envy lifted him up and tossed his small form over one shoulder. “Get the kid in the car and then help me gather up their stuff. We’ll dump it on the way out. Greed, get that handcuff off and start the van. I don’t think you want to be wearing that when we meet up with the others.” Envy tossed a ring of keys at Greed, who fished around on it until he found the keys to his set of handcuffs._

_Lust scoffed as he tore off a smaller piece of tape, pressed it over Minchan’s mouth, and then gathered the boy’s limp body into his arms. “If Greed thinks that’s going to stop everyone from knowing that he got his ass handed to him by a thirteen year old, he’s got another think coming.”_

_The lock popped open on the handcuff just as Greed replied with, “Don’t you even **dare** , Lu-!”_

* * *

Hoyoung blinked. The scene before him was gone as suddenly as it had come, and just the dark, empty garage remained. 

“Is… is that it?” he demanded frantically. “That can’t be it!”

“I’m afraid it is, little thief,” Jaehwan said, taking his hand off the other half of the handcuffs and sitting down heavily on the ground, panting as if he’d just sprinted 200 meters. “When the human took off the other half of the shiny, it severed the connection to the memory. That’s all there is.”

“How could they do such a thing?” Yeonho whimpered, crouched low to the ground, tail tucked between his legs. The dream eater sounded on the verge of tears, and Hoyoung immediately jumped off Jaehwan’s shoulders to comfort him. “Those people? How could they just take them away like that, hurt them like that? The boys were so scared… it was like a nightmare, but it was _real_. I never want to see something like that again.”

“People can be terrible to each other,” Jaehwan said, as serious as Hoyoung had ever heard him, reaching down to scratch Yeonho’s ears. “Humans, monsters, doesn’t matter. I never keep these kinds of shinies. Some memories are better left forgotten.”

“Not just yet, though,” Hoyoung said, giving Yeonho’s cheek a comforting lick before going over to nose at the dried splatters of Minchan’s blood on the ground. He felt rage rise in his chest again at the thought of how fiercely the boy had fought to protect his brother, and how dearly he’d paid for it. With immense effort, Hoyoung forced his anger and grief to the side. There would be plenty of time for anger later. Right now, they needed to focus if they stood any chance of getting the boys back before they were beyond their reach forever. “Think, everyone. What did we learn from the shiny? Any clues? Any leads at all?”

“Oh, oh, I got one!” Jaehwan said, sitting up straight as his breathing gradually stopped coming in desperate wheezes. “They were already planning on going after Hana again! They’ll surely go after the others again, too, since their first attempt failed.”

“They seemed awfully confident that the police wouldn’t look into this too closely, either,” added Hoyoung, scowling. “And did you notice? They seemed to be magical. Greed had telekinesis, and they knew what wards were. Could… could they be monsters instead of humans?”

“But if they’re monsters, why would they want our humans in the first place? And how did our humans get those wards, anyway?” Yeonho held his head in his paws, looking pained. “Augh, so many questions! Why does this keep just getting more and more _complicated_?”

“We don’t need to know the whys and hows right now, Yeonnie,” Hoyoung said decisively. “What’s important is that our humans aren’t out of danger yet. Any of them.” He looked directly at Jaehwan. “That means it will be up to you to let everyone know what you saw so they can know what to look out for and keep everyone safe.”

“Count on me!” The omen puffed out his chest. “No one’s going to get in the house that doesn’t belong there if we have anything to say about it! I’ll take the shiny back and show everyone, too, and if I see anyone suspicious, they won’t know what hit them. I could take the yoyo back, too, just to take it off your hands, Yeonho.”

“How will you take it back?” Hoyoung asked as Yeonho reluctantly passed over the toy. “It’s locked.”

“Worry not!” Jaehwan fished around in one of his many pockets and pulled out a lock pick with a dramatic flourish. In just a few, deft movements, he’d picked the lock on the handcuff, and it fell into his hand with a jingle of metal.

“Okay, so now that that’s taken care of, what about the car?” Yeonho asked as Jaehwan pocketed the lock pick and the handcuff and yoyo. “Did anyone get the license plate number? All I remember is that it started with 74너.”

“0514,” Hoyoung finished automatically. “So that’s a start at least."

“Awesome! But…” Yeonho visibly wilted, “we can’t go through the entire city searching for one vehicle. And what if they left for another city entirely?”

“Wait… they talked about something called the Crazy Guy, remember?” Hoyoung said. “Does anyone know who or what that is?”

The garage fell silent as all three monsters lost themselves in thought, wracking their brains for any snippet of information that could possibly be helpful. Suddenly, Jaehwan gave a sharp, inhuman caw, startling Hoyoung into fluffing up his tail. “Now I remember! I flew over it when I was scouting for a place to live back when I first got into town. It’s… what do humans call it? A place where they gather to drink stuff?”

“A bar?” Hoyoung ventured.

“That’s it! A bar!”

“Do you know where it is?” Yeonho asked eagerly.

Jaehwan nodded. “I’m pretty sure I could find it again. But,” He wilted slightly, “if we’re right that those bad people will try to take our humans again, the others need to know that as soon as possible. And it’s pretty far away, all the way on the other side of the city.”

“How about you go back and report to them tonight, then?” Hoyoung suggested. “You can give us directions, and we can find it while you go home. I’m usually pretty good with directions. We can meet you there sometime tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Jaehwan agreed readily. He grabbed a rock in his hand. “This will be easier if I draw it for you, I think. I see everything from above, and you don’t.”

“Good thinking,” Yeonho said admiringly as Jaehwan began the process of sketching out a rough map on the floor of the garage and outlining how to get to the bar.

“You both got it?” Jaehwan asked the younger monsters a few minutes later.

“I think so,” Hoyoung said, still memorizing how many left turns they would have to make before he and Yeonho reached their destination.

“Well, then what are we waiting for?” Yeonho asked, leaping to his feet, tail lashing back and forth excitedly. “Let’s go find them!”

“Let’s,” Hoyoung agreed firmly, bounding out of the warehouse, Yeonho close on his heels. Jaehwan transformed and took flight with a raucous caw, circling once overhead before heading back the way they’d come. And then it was just Hoyoung and Yeonho, streaking through the sleeping city’s back alleys and empty streets like vengeful phantoms.

Hoyoung lead the way, forked tail held high like a battle standard. They _were_ going to get Minchan and Kangmin back where they belonged, even if they had to fight the entire world to get to do so, and those kidnappers _were_ going to rue the day they’d incurred the ire of the monsters of Jellyfish Cottage. Hoyoung was going to make sure of it.

No matter what it took.

* * *

_Quatervois: (n.) a crossroads; a critical decision or turning point in one's life_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monsta X's appearances in this fic are directly based off how they looked in their [Shoot Out MV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS10Zz49FHE), and their characterizations are based on the impressions I got from that and their [Alligator MV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C3hIJg4rHo), i.e. they're not wholly based off their RL counterparts. There will be similarities, of course, but any discrepancies are deliberate. So, Monbebes in the audience, pls don't come for me, I know your boys are sweet, talented dorks irl, but I needed some villains for this thing, so here we are. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (Plus the Seven Deadly Sins motif from Shoot Out/Alligator were too good to pass up, why isn't there more fic with that theme??)

**Author's Note:**

> So anyway, comments are appreciated and hoarded like an omen's shinies! 🙏


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